“You should set goals beyond your reach, so you always have something to live for.”— Ted Turner.
Financial goals are crucial for having a stable and prosperous life. Therefore, learning to take them seriously and work towards achieving those goals is highly vital for your success.
The truth is that success is incomplete without financial stability and prosperity, so there is a need to set financial goals and work towards achieving them.
What Is A Good Financial Goal?
The definition of financial goals revolves around simple objectives designed to help you grow financially.
Of course, an excellent financial goal is also designed to help you prosper financially, but it is more concise, precise, timely, and has a plan for its fulfillment.
Setting financial goals aims to build your capacity to handle and manage money to the advantage of your success. Financial goals form the foundation for a holistic financial plan.
Smart financial goals help you build your finances and are compatible with your values and personal objectives. They blend and work along with your personality and not against it.
The beautiful fact about financial goals is that they are straightforward, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
When achieved, financial goals can form a chronicle of milestones that will bring you closer to the life of your dreams and serve as a testimony of your growth and efforts.
Types Of Financial Goals
Financial goals are of three basic types; short-term financial goals, mid-term financial goals, and long-term financial goals.
1. Short-term Financial Goals
Short-term financial goals are goals you plan to achieve within a short period and are crucial to your present financial state.
Financial short-term goals have a sense of urgency to them. This is because they can largely influence the future of your financial life and success.
When achieved, short-term financial goals can form the bridge that leads to a more stable phase of your finances, leaving you more independent later in life.
2. Mid-term Financial Goals
Mid-term financial goals, however, play a different role. Mid-term financial goals serve as an intermediate bridge to creating a foundation for a larger purpose.
Think of them as stepping stones, most of which fall within the time frame of three to ten years. Mid-term financial goals may range from goals like saving up for a new tool or gadget for work or investing in equity to sell later.
3. Long-term Financial Goals
As the name goes, long-term financial goals are designed to meet futuristic needs.
However, because long-term goals contain smaller short and mid-term goals, they give an unfair advantage to anyone working towards achieving them.
The advantage of long-term goals is that they help you prepare for unforeseen circumstances and give you control of your finances, present or future.
Most long-term goals can often be broken down into numerous short-term or mid-term goals for speedy achievements and laser focus.
15 Financial Goals You Need To Set
The importance of building on the right set of goals for the achievement of any objective is hugely pivotal for success. The same applies to your finances too!
However, most folks have little or no idea how to build a list of financial goals tailored to ensure their finances expand. This article was written with you in mind if you are looking for such.
Read on, and explore 15 unique financial goals you should work with for a more financially stable and prosperous future.
1. Save Consistently
Among the list of financial goals for students, learning to save regularly is crucial! As a student or young adult, getting hold of money might be pretty tricky; hence you should learn to save money to keep you better prepared to handle rainy days.
The essence of learning to save is to build a strong fortress of money that can be used for several purposes. Money, when saved can be used to take care of emergencies, start new projects or even cater to basic needs.
The idea is to leave you with money in your pocket to fall back to and count on in a world full of uncertainties. Cultivating the habit of saving teaches you the value of money and how to equip yourself better.
With savings, you can also cash in on rare opportunities and position yourself for situations that can help you grow. You should build the habit of saving money as early as possible of all your financial goals. If you struggle with saving, it might be because you are doing it wrongly.
A few tips in this article, ways to save money fast on a tight budget, will be beneficial to you. You can access it here.
2. Shift From Scarcity To An Abundance Mindset
There are financial goals for your 20s that every young person should take seriously and work towards their achievement as fast as possible.
Shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset falls among and is extremely vital to the financial stability of any young person.
Our finances are primarily influenced by the quality of our minds, decision-making skills, and experience. Hence, the state of your mind can make you rich or keep you poor.
Part of the many financial goals you might achieve is building a mindset that is more conscious of abundance and possibilities of success.
An abundant mindset is open and capable of envisioning great ideas and possibilities for the future.
It is also optimistic and sees each experience as a platform for growth and something better, unlike the scarcity mindset that sees only limitations and is very myopic.
To understand more about the scarcity and abundant mindset and how to make the shift, you can read about it here.
Your chances of success in life are tied to the state of your mind. Therefore, you must have an abundant mindset for your financial goals to be profitable and prosperous.
3. Acquire Assets
Every person should make it a priority to own assets in any form as soon as they can. Assets not only form a stream of income but also improve our value and worth as individuals.
Choosing to own assets ranging from physical properties, real estate, gold, and even mineral resources places you in a better position to make money and expand your influence.
An example of smart financial goals is buying and owning stocks of profitable companies like Coca-cola before 24.
Wealthy folks like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have grown their financial status by acquiring assets, recognizing and maximizing opportunities to exploit and use those assets to their advantage.
You can grow the base of your financial status by learning how to acquire the right set of assets and use them to your advantage.
Acquiring assets should be on your list of financial goals by 30 that you should aim to achieve, especially if you are still in your 20s.
4. Improve Your Management And Spending Skills
It is one thing to have money, and it is another thing to be able to spend wisely. Therefore, one crucial skill you should build on is becoming proficient in managing available resources and frugal cash spending.
Careful management of money, time, and energy can make the difference between being broke for a long while and being stable financially.
Of all financial management goals, learning how to monitor how and what you spend your money and other resources should be considered vital to the growth of your finances.
Every wealthy person is an expert or is highly skilled in matters of management of resources. So, if you must become financially prosperous, working towards better supervision and administration of your sources of income must become a priority.
5. Avoid/Get Rid Of Debts
As someone who is intentionally about the state of their finances, you must understand the implications of being in debt of any form. Debts, especially when managed poorly, can become a source of doom to anyone.
In a world of uncertainties where we have little control over certain things, it doesn’t hurt to borrow quick cash for an emergency or take care of an urgent need.
However, letting such debt pile up in enormous quantity can push you into bankruptcy and ruin your reputation and career. Of all financial goals for business, avoiding debt tops the list.
Apart from the effect it has on you; debt can sink any business faster than you can say jack. One of the many financial goals you should pay attention to is doing as much as possible to avoid debt or manage it properly when incurred.
Ensure that you build a good saving habit and acquire funds and assets you can pull off when in need rather than get into debt.
6. Spend On A Dream Vacation
Your monthly financial goals shouldn’t always revolve around making money and building assets alone. Enjoying yourself and living the life of your dreams should be a financial goal too.
It takes financial stability of some level to live the kind of life many people dream of. It should be a priority, too, to make getting that life a reality.
You can choose to spend on a dream vacation to your favorite countries like Paris or Greece or anywhere that catches your fancy.
Financial goals like the above should be something you have always wanted. But, it doesn’t have to be traveling. For you, it can be going on a shopping spree, attending the concert of a favorite music star, or visiting a fancy restaurant.
The most important thing is that you have at least one financial goal that revolves around getting the quality of lifestyle you dream of and deserve.
7. Monetise Your Skills
Many people are scattered around the world who can do certain things uniquely or have a skill they are good at. An ironic fact? Most of them are broke.
Research shows that 75% of creatives with skills do not make money that matches their worth. Why? Simply because most creatives do not have a business mind.
If you have high or low-income skills, you can take advantage of it and bump your finances higher.
However, if your skill is a low-income skill, I suggest you spice things up with a unique or innovative tweak that gives you an edge over your competitors in the market.
Make a conscious decision to learn all you can about your skill and develop a business mind to give your skill the visibility it deserves and make money.
Making money from your skills will leave you with more cash in your pocket and give you a sense of satisfaction.
8. Build Multiple Streams Of Income
Nothing makes the figures in your bank account grow faster than having multiple income streams. Everything from passive income to working a job or owning a business is right.
Escaping poverty and a life of lack is a full-time job. Hence, you must make it a priority to own and build more than one stream of income. A job might not be sufficient to pay the bills, take care of a family and live your dream life.
On top of your financial goals by 30, earning money from different sources should be considered a worthy cause. Even if you are okay with buying and selling assets, ensure that you have more than one channel for making money.
It will provide time for you to do other things and make your life more comfortable.
9. Become Proficient In Investments
It’s cool to have money but knowing what to do with it and how to increase it is way cooler! Becoming an expert in investing can be the reason why you become super-wealthy.
Hence, I suggest you adjust your mind to see learning the art of investment as a profitable venture. Build your skill of investment by reading books, watching videos, and taking courses.
Learn by experience by experimenting with what you know and listening to experts. When you build this skill for a while, you will notice a slight change in your perception.
It will become easier to spot opportunities hidden from the average person. With the right amount of money, information, and strategy, you can cash out on those opportunities and build your finances.
10. Work Towards A Higher Rank At Work
Here is another financial goal that you should pay attention to. Getting promoted at work comes with benefits ranging from more recognition, an improved reputation, higher pay, and better access to people and opportunities.
In other words, you stand a better chance of living a comfortable and fulfilled life when you serve at a higher position at work.
So, if you have never seen it in this light before, your financial goals for the year should include improving your competence and productivity to attain promotions at work.
11. Reduce Extravagance
Despite how glamorous and pleasant it looks, extravagance can severely damage the state of your pocket. I am not against a little splurging here and there, but it is crucial to maintain balance and intelligence when you spend money.
Apart from the unnecessary attention it might attract, extravagance has been why many top-notch celebrities have lost their wealth over time.
In building a healthy and robust financial base, you must incorporate the skill of management and intelligent spending.
Embrace frugality like the tips in this article, nine things Frugal people never do encourage you to, and try as much as possible to spend on only what you need at the moment.
You are less likely to spend unwisely when you become disciplined enough to buy what you need and not what you want. So as you write down your financial goals for the year, make this one a part of it.
12. Learn More About Personal And World Finance
The proverb, “knowledge is power,” remains as valid as ever in our world today. The human race is in a continuous state of consistent evolution, especially in technology, finance, art, and innovation.
Hence, being conscious of these changes and being able to recognize opportunities in these changes can make an immediate difference in your finances.
I strongly suggest that you begin to build your knowledge on not only your personal finance but also the happenings of the financial world. Study trends and research the latest changes and how they can affect you.
Doing this places you in an advantageous position over the average person who is ignorant of those changes. The truth is that global financial changes have a ripple effect on us all, no matter how little.
To prevent yourself from being negatively affected by that side effects, you must be better prepared by being aware and planning.
It isn’t enough to have cash. Be aware of everything that concerns you, even if you think it doesn’t. For example, a change in the US dollar price might cause a difference in the Japanese Yen.
That subtle change can incur losses worth millions of dollars for some and bring profit to others! So read books, watch the news and keep your eyes out for changes in your financial world.
13. Know And Improve Your Worth/Value
Sometimes, we fail to remember that our perceptions of self-worth and value influence our finances. How you see yourself does not just affect your mental health alone, it also affects your financial status.
Therefore, among the many financial goals, you can set, consider adding a discovery of your self-worth to the list or working to boost it if you already do.
You can influence many things when you know who you are and what you are worth. You can change the standards of things and even push the boundaries of your limitations when you become more conscious of your identity.
Your growth speed will largely depend on the perceptions of your worth from yourself and the people around you.
Learn to be more conscious of your worth by exposing yourself to information that sponsors positivity and growth.
Splurge on YouTube videos, books, and even podcasts like Little steps, Big miles. It will become easier to be aware of your person when you improve your self-worth.
14. Have An Emergency Fund Pot
It is common knowledge that we live in a world of uncertainty where rapid, life-changing occurrences can change the direction and pace of things beyond our control.
Seeing that we have little influence throughout our lives, we should try to prepare ourselves better to handle the best and the worst of times.
Thus, it is crucial and intelligent to have a stash of cash specifically to address such precarious circumstances. Gradually make a mental note to build an account where you can save money or assets that can be converted into cash for fast use.
So that whenever life decides to play a game one on you, it will be easier for you to keep yourself grounded.
15. Have A Will
No one lives forever. I know the subject of death is something most people aren’t comfortable with. Still, it is an inevitable event we will all experience and have little command over.
However, we control what happens to the people around us and our resources. The essence of a will is to ensure that your money, assets, and investments are used or spent wisely and concerning your interests.
To prevent your hard-earned assets from being plundered and utilized without any discretion, you must write a will to determine how your finances should be managed after your death, especially near retirement.
Conclusion
As you age, the need to take responsibility for your finances becomes more evident. Having the right goals for your finances is a splendid method of building a financially stable life for you and your loved ones.
However, effectively chasing the right goals requires more than just determination and sheer willpower. Remember, it doesn’t take much to get the life of your dream.
It only requires you to take the first step and the next step! In your growth, consistency is key!
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